Many writers have taken to whining about the culture of millennials, the generation of Americans born after 1990. These writers tend to argue that millennials are lazy, selfish and stupid.

Naseem Rakha recently wrote a guest column for The Oregonian titled, “Don't be a sucker for online quizzes.” Her column is rich in millennial-shaming.

Rakha is implying that those who participate in internet personality tests are “suckers.” Her critique is simple: While quiz takers think they are having “a little fun,” they are “being played” by corporations.

This critique relies on the false assumption that quiz takers are unaware that internet activity is not private. However, having grown up as technology natives, millennials are very aware that their internet activity is tracked. Even with this knowledge, many choose to take these online quizzes.

The quizzes Rakha listed, from “What Downton Abbey character are you?” to “What Arbitrary Thing Are You?”, have been successful on Buzzfeed, a site enjoyed mostly by teenagers and twenty-somethings. Fifty percent of Buzzfeed’s traffic comes from views on mobile phones.

If most participants in these personality quizzes are teenagers and twenty-somethings, is Rakha just speaking about millennials in code?

Rakha manages to throw in a jab at modern internet communication styles, saying that during a recent visit to Guatemala she did not meet anyone worried about online quiz results. Just people busy “working and cleaning and talking.” Talking face to face, she adds, versus “chat icon to chat icon.”

While Rakha doesn’t specifically call out the millennial generation, she is critiquing habits of almost entirely mobile-phone, quiz-taking and, dare I say, “chat icon to chat icon” millennials. If I had a dollar for every time someone from generations before mine has told me I do not talk to people “face-to-face” enough, I would be able to pay off all of my student loans (student loans that happen to be the very result of policies generated by generations before me).

Instead of blasting the activities of quiz takers, perhaps Rakha should have critiqued government surveillance and policies regarding privacy. Calling a bunch of quiz takers lazy and under-informed isn’t only wrong. It is ineffective.

Her column does not even include a statement as to why the process of corporations gathering data through online quizzes is problematic. Instead, she makes fun of test takers who are enjoying a few minutes by seeking a little self-discovery.

I’m not arguing that tracking the internet activity is good. But I am arguing that millennials are not being “played” or doing anything wrong by taking quirky internet personality quizzes. millennials are aware of internet surveillance and are just exploring identity during their transitions to adulthood.

Tyler Wayne Patterson is a student at Lewis & Clark College and the web and social media manager at The Pioneer Log (PIOLOG.com).